


life, uh, life finds a way

by Manickmondays



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: 3+1, Jurrasic Park!AU, M/M, kind of. i don't mention the park explicitly but who's counting, raptor fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:20:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manickmondays/pseuds/Manickmondays
Summary: Ryan is a ranger who takes care of herbivore dinosaurs, but more importantly, he's a ranger with a massive crush on another ranger.ORThree times Ryan went to Gavin, and the one time Gavin went to Ryan.





	life, uh, life finds a way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kingslayers (colbee)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/colbee/gifts).



1

Oh fuck. _Oh fuck_.

Ryan had a missing baby on his hands. Rather, out of his hands, because he couldn’t find one of his _fucking_ babies, and of course it was the lovingly named Pointy, and Pointy already had a penchant for getting out of his grasp and raising hell in the herbivore section.

The radio at his hip bleated at him about a containment breach on the west side of his enclosure, and Ryan felt the dread drip down his spine. Containment breach were words that he’d dreaded hearing since the second he came to work here as a ranger in the park. Containment breach means animals die, might mean people get hurt. They’ve never… _lost_ a ranger, but that’s what the law says. Lost just means they died, but they’ve had to send people home for untold amounts of injuries.

Forget that. His Pointy was in danger, and he’ll lose a leg to fucking raptor at this point to get his triceratops back. Ryan jogged over to his Jeep, swinging in by the rack on top to get in quickly and jamming the ignition. He did his best to not flip his car, carefully dodging trees and scanning the ground for potholes. He’d be no use to anyone with a rolled over car. The radio was popping and crackling to life again, again about the containment breach, and he snatched the receiver up, taking the wheel in one hand and snapping out that he was going to deal with it, don’t shut the damn park down just yet.

He did not get paid enough for this, not by any damn means. He reached the fence, not immediately seeing a hole and calling in to the guys up top. Did they have a name? Park Control, probably, but everyone just called them the guys up top. Practically lived up on the mountain, could see the whole park on their monitors.

“Yeah, it’s uh. Ranger Haywood. Checking in on the containment breach, I’m in sector C14, but I’m not seeing a break.” There was a pause before the radio crackled again.

“Go down about three, it’s in the middle of C17.” The radio responded, and Ryan shifted back into drive and sped off, hugging the wall and keeping an eye out for holes in the fence. Sure enough, as he hit the right sector, there were the blinking red lights that indicated a dead zone in the electric fence. And there was a Pointy sized hole, right there in the dead zone.

“Jesus, fuck.” He swore softly and swung back into the Jeep, roaring off into the enclosure, radioing the entire sector, calling for all the rangers in the area to keep an eye out for a rogue trike baby, and to just tell him if Pointy was already dead. As he drove, he heard the hiss of raptors behind him, and his heart sank as the lean raptors caught up beside him, running with him as if he were one of them.

With the raptors in here, poor Pointy didn’t stand a chance.

He got a response back from one of the rangers, a voice he didn’t quite recognize. New guy, maybe.

“Ranger Haywood… I think I’ve found your trike.” The voice was hesitant, and Ryan felt his heart sink again.

“Is he dead?” Ryan responded over the radio, slowing down as the raptors sped on.

“No, he’s fine, just… follow the raptors over here?” Ryan sighed. He didn’t really wanna be put through this hoop jumping just to get to his trike, but he complied. He trailed after the raptors, following each twist and turn the best he could until he got to where their trainer was.

Oh. _Oh._ If that was the voice on the other side of the walkies, Ryan should have been paying more attention. Gorgeous, golden, sunkissed skin and hair, and pretty eyes that struck Ryan right to his core. He was so gay and speechless that he almost tumbled out of his Jeep, barely managing to get his feet to land right. He felt wholly unattractive, sweaty, mosquito bitten, far too pale for living on an island most of the time… it was just all bad.

“Got your trike right here, mate.” The guy squinted, and pointed a bit off, where Pointy was on his side with a raptor draped over him, fast asleep. They looked like they were… cuddling, almost? Ryan had never seen anything like it. “Never seen Lloyd do that to anything, not even her kids.” The impossibly gorgeous man kept saying words, but Ryan was just lost in his face, the soft looking beard, the perfect spike of his hair, the _sheen_ of sweat on his skin.

“Hello, earth to Ranger Haywood?” Before he knew it, the guy was staring at him blankly, snapping his fingers.

“Uh, Ryan.” He blurted, getting him an odd, but amused smile from the other ranger.

“Gavin. Ranger Free on the horn.” He patted his walkie and smiled, turning back to the cuddling dinosaurs in front of him. “Feel free to get your boy on out of there whenever you like.” Ryan turned back to Pointy, hands on his hips.

“Got myself a big ass bag of leaves in back, he’ll come running the second I wave some at him.” Ryan snorted a little, relishing in Gavin’s little laugh.

“I’ll save my steaks for later then.” He quipped right back, and Ryan’s heart did a little somersault in his chest. Fuck him, he’d have to keep this in check if he ever wanted to look Gavin in the face ever again.

2

The new pterosaur enclosure was finally opening today, and Ryan realized that trying to dress up for the occasion was stupid, after he’d sweat through one of his nicer shirts in barely twenty minutes. Everyone else was probably just going to be in their uniforms anyways, and Ryan always needed an excuse to tan (read: burn) his legs.

Besides, nothing better than the stick of his thighs to those delightful leather seats in the Jeep. Ryan came out of his cabin, squinting in the sun as it rose ever higher. He might have to put up the rain tarp if this sun got worse, because he’d run out of sunscreen, and the supply wouldn’t come in for a couple days. He could buy some, sure, but a nine-dollar tube of dinosaur branded sunscreen just didn’t really fit in his lifestyle.

Ryan slid into his Jeep, starting up the ignition as the damned cat-o-nine tails of keychains slapped against his thigh. Each year he didn’t die they gave him another novelty keychain with another dinosaur on it. They were tiered by size, and he was up to archaeopteryx. He had no idea what next year was, but he was unreasonably excited to add to his flail.

He had planned to just head straight there, but as he drove out of his enclosure, he caught sight of the raptor pen, remembering his encounter with Gavin a couple weeks back. It… wouldn’t hurt to swing by and see if he was there, would it? He took the roads, driving past the raptor enclosure only to see Gavin’s jeep still parked outside of his enclosure. There was no way he walked. Right? He was still in there.

Ryan parked next to his jeep, noticing the little Union Jack on the dashboard, fluttering a bit in the turgid summer wind. He walked closer to the enclosure, hearing the snap and hiss of raptors long before he ever got there. When he did, there was Gavin on the catwalk above the training enclosure, dangling a shockingly huge steak from his fingers and _cooing._ Ryan waited till he’d dropped it before rapping his knuckles on the metal stairs, catching Gavin’s attention and making him jump a little.

“Ranger Ha- Ryan!” He wiped his bloody hand off on his uniform in what Ryan was almost sure was a violation of health and safety protocol and beckoned him up, watching as his raptors bickered over the steak. “Sorry, I was just… I forgot about reinforcing their feeding schedule. They like to fight if I don’t feed them exactly on time. Lloyd in particular ruddy hates me for all that nonsense. Like damn cats they are.” He chuckled fondly before bending down to grab another steak from the bucket, one that made Ryan glad he’s in charge of herbivores before clicking his tongue a couple times. The raptors fell into an obedient formation, a little chevron of hissing beasts.

“Lloyd, you stay away from this one. Columbo hasn’t eaten yet this morning.” He tossed the steak towards the darker raptor, and it snapped the steak up, chewing on the gristle.

“You coming today?” Ryan asked out of the blue, blurting the words and making Gavin look up.

“Oh, yeah, new enclosure. Wasn’t sure. Got blood on my pants and all.” Gavin gestured down to the handprint on his shorts, one that Ryan did watch him put there. He worried his lip between his teeth, but Ryan reaches out to brush his fingers along Gavin’s arm.

“Hey, I mean, if you want we can sit in the back and make fun of that one boss dude who always sweats like he’s dying and gets all squinty and just like, makes out with the mic.” Ryan tapped his knuckles against Gavin’s arm, and Gavin starts cracking up with this adorable squeak that makes Ryan’s heart clench.

“Oh my _god_ , you’re so right!” He wheezed out, bending over the railing a bit and catching the attention of his raptors.

“You coming now?” Gavin nodded, still laughing. Ryan’s glad he’s bent over, because he can’t see the deep blush on his face if Gavin’s not looking at him.

“Of course!” Gavin finally straightened up, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to stop giggling. He pointed at Ryan, making Ryan cock an eyebrow. “You’re driving.”

Ryan snorted a little and shook his head fondly. “Sure, Gavin, as long as I’ll have someone else there with me.”

3

The news had spread about as quickly as the infection had, overtaking a good half of the carnivores, and going viciously after Gavin’s youngest raptor, Columbo. Ryan was grateful it didn’t seem to affect his side of things, but every ranger was on edge, and it put the whole park in a dour mood. No one really wanted to parade their babies out when there was bacteria on the loose, and considering how it had a good chunk of the attractions in critical condition, it didn’t exactly make it easy to put on a smile.

Gavin in particular had looked miserable, (Ryan had sought him out at every all hands meeting they had about the infection) and Ryan didn’t know what he should do other than pay him a visit. They’d become closer over the last few months, though Ryan had hardly worked up the courage to make it anything other than friends.

No, ok, he shouldn’t snub friends, because Gavin was super nice, and Ryan had always been kind of bad at making those, so no. He was… happy where he was with Gavin, and proud of himself if he managed to ask for anything more. This was fine.

Ryan decided that he was gonna bring a little bit of a smile to Gavin’s face one night, and drove over after most of the park functions had shut down and the animals were put away, meaning Gavin almost certainly would be in his cabin. Or not, he could be literally anywhere. Whatever, he was gonna do this no matter what. He’s already here, and the lights were on. They get yelled at if they waste energy, so it’s not likely he forgot to turn them off. Ryan takes the stairs two at a time, and nervously rapped his knuckles against the metal door, scratched to all hell.

“Gav? I… uh, thought maybe you’d want someone to hang out with?” Ryan called, hoping his voice would carry through the open windows. The door swung open to reveal a puffy eyed Gavin, tear streaked and smelling a bit like alcohol.

“Ryan.” He said flatly, and Ryan was… more than worried at that.

“Gavin, are you…” Before he could finish that sentence, he was being dragged into the cabin, door shutting behind them. “Okay.” The answer was all too obvious, if the nest of blankets with the bottle of whiskey was any indication.

“I don’t know what’s goin’ on with my damn raptor, and the first dinosaur went down today. So now it’s deadly,” Gavin scrubbed at his nose and sat down in his nest, offering Ryan a swig from the bottle, which he politely declined. “I’m worried, Ryan.”

“I can tell…” Ryan sat down next to him, making room in the nest of blankets and laying a hand on Gavin’s knee, massaging a bit and looking over kindly. Gavin sniffled and took a drink from the bottle, messily wiping his face.

“I hate feeling powerless, mate. And it’s all I’ve felt since Columbo came down with this stupid infection.” Ryan wrapped his arm around Gavin, pulling him close and smiling kindly.

“Listen. You’re one of the best rangers in this park, and I know you raise those raptors to be tough little son of a guns.” Gavin listened quietly, capping the bottle and setting it down on the rough little table with a sniffle. “Columbo will come through this, and you will have a tough little raptor on your hands.”

“Don’t feel tough. Feel helpless.” Gavin whined a bit, and Ryan clutched Gavin closer. “Feel stupid, like it’s somehow my fault Columbo got sick.”

“Was it my fault Pointy got out? No. There’s a lot of shit that goes down in this park that we can’t control. We have to let go of all the bullshit, and just let things happen. It’s gonna be ok. And I can keep coming and visiting and making sure you’re ok until Columbo is back and begging for steaks like normal.” Gavin gave a bubbly giggle, covering his mouth and snorting.

“She does like a good steak…”

“She does. And hey, maybe I can be there when she has her first steak after getting back?” Ryan nudged Gavin’s temple and got a weary smile from him as he leaned into Ryan.

“That sounds really good, Rye.” Gavin mumbled as he snuggled into Ryan’s side, and Ryan just had to pray that Gavin couldn’t feel his heart racing.

+1

Columbo, as it turned out, was a tough sun of a gun, and came back stronger than ever after the infection. She ate twice as many steaks as normal when she came back, and had started to try and establish her dominance in the pack.

Which, of course, Ryan had heard every sordid dino detail from Gavin several times over, excited and animated as ever. Ryan had almost gotten hit in the face a couple times, but hey, he’d do a lot more than get hit in the face for love. He hadn’t hung out with Gavin much outside of the raptor pen outside of Columbo’s triumphant return, and he was starting to worry that Gavin didn’t actually like spending time with him at all.

But, as if an angel to quell his worried self, Gavin came knocking at his door with something other than the horrid khaki jumpsuit-shorts combo that made up their uniforms on, and a huge smile on his face.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Ranger Free?” Ryan leaned on his door with a grin, earning a hearty shake of the head from Gavin.

“Ok, well, I’ll be seeing you, I’ll take my offer for a date and shove it.” Gavin said, the grin evident in his voice as he turned to walk off with his hands raised in defeat. Ryan only had a half second for his cocky smile to fade as Gavin’s words actually sunk in, and he was off like a shot to stumble after him.

“Wait, woah, woah, did I hear… _date_?”

“You did!” Gavin called as he jumped off the second to last step up to Ryan’s cabin, squinting up the stairs. “But then you just had to talk to me like it was still work and I wasn’t about to ask you to go to that… new-ish restaurant on the island because I hear the food is divine, so you’ve _totally_ lost your chance, Ranger Haywood.” Gavin waved, just as Ryan was nearly flinging himself down the stairs until he was standing right in front of Gavin. Very close in front, actually. Right up on him.

“You… actually wanna go on a date with me? Like, tonight?”

“Yes, I was thinking tonight. Seeing as I have reservations in…” Gavin peered down at the thin watch on wrist, elegant and clean. Ryan had never seen it before, but he’d also never seen Gavin in clothes other than his uniform. “an hour forty-five.”

“Give me… fifteen minutes. No. twenty.” Ryan said breathlessly, and Gavin just shook his head with a fond smile, leaning up to kiss Ryan’s cheek.

“Take all the time in the world. I’ve got a friend who’s working as a waiter there, he’ll hold a table for just a few minutes for us.” Gavin winked and patted Ryan’s chest, where he could probably absolutely feel his _gay_ little heart hammering away in his ribcage.

“Yeah, that uh, that sounds great. See you in a bit!” Ryan impulsively dipped down to kiss Gavin’s cheek right back, and dashed off, not seeing the fond and lovestruck look on Gavin’s cheek as he went.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you spicy cool cats, I wrote this for my boyfriend whomst was tagged in this! I love him very much! Check me out on tumblr at [finnseth](http://finnseth.tumblr.com/).


End file.
